President Obama’s visit stirred praise and criticism

There was an interesting twist when President Barack Obama visited Miami on Good Friday.

The media saw its purpose as political.

Of course, the timing of the visit gave rise to questions beyond the political realm.

Good Friday, which proceeds Easter Sunday by three days and is three days after Passover begins, marked Obama’s tour of the Port of Miami.

The President, who assessed work on the Port Tunnel, took the opportunity to tout his call for additional public private ventures in rebuilding America’s infrastructures.

From a religious perspective, Jewish faith celebrates Passover as the Exodus of Israelites from Egypt. Christians celebrate Good Friday as the day of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and Easter as his resurrection.

“That is the foundation of our beliefs as Christians,” said the Rev. Dr. James Bush, III, associate pastor of Antioch Baptist Church of Brownsville. ”The death of Christ; his burial and resurrection.

“I don’t have a problem with his (Obama) visit on Good Friday. You might have some who would have held out for another time. But I don’t have a problem with anyone moving on any day. I think God manifests himself on any day.

“Personally, my thinking is he (Obama) did the wisest thing at the time,” said Bush, while adding, “They all do things along Party lines, for political expediency.”

No. There weren’t any reports of criticism from the religious community.

However, Republicans, led by Florida Governor Rick Scott, launched their attacks.

While local politics is supposedly non-partisan, Miami Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez, while not directly criticizing President Obama, praised Scott for the $77-million in funding the state is providing to help finance the Port Tunnel Project.

Scott, who was in town a day before the President’s Good Friday visit, taped an interview with Michael Putney that aired on WPLG Local 10’s This Week in South Florida on Easter Sunday.

Scott attacked President Obama for the federal government’s failure to provide $77-million in funding for the Port Tunnel Project, which he said the state will now contribute.

However, Scott made no mention of how he and the Republican dominated Florida State Legislature rejected opportunities to secure millions of dollars in Race to the Top Federal Education Funds. Nor did he mention the fight he waged in trying to resist participating in Medicaid under the healthcare reforms.

“I applaud the President,” Congresswoman Frederica S. Wilson, Dem., D-24 (Miami and South Broward), wrote in an email. President Obama demonstrated once again that he has the vision and courage to end our unemployment crisis and empower the American economy.”

“In Congress, I’ve been proud to be one of the most vocal supporters of the President’s American Jobs Act, which would get millions of Americans trained, working and contributing to the tax base.”

“I applaud the President’s new initiatives announced today to rebuild the nation’s roads, bridges, rail lines and ports through innovative and cost effective partnerships between business and government.”

President Obama cited the private public participation in financing and build the Port Tunnel as the kind of effort that is needed to rebuild America’s infrastructures and get people working again.

He specifically cited Miami Dade County and the Florida East Coast Rail Road, among others, as key participants in the Port Tunnel Project.